Hermes 3000

The Hermes 3000 was a lightweight, segment-shifted portable typewriter manufactured by Paillard-Bolex.[1][2] "Bulbous" and "angular" in shape,[3] it came with a fitted, hard-shell removable cover. The machines were built in Yverdon, Switzerland, by Paillard S.A.[4]

Hermes 3000 from 1970 (back), in front of it is a Hermes Baby.
Hermes 3000 typewriter

The Hermes 3000 was introduced in 1958[5] as a successor to the Hermes 2000.[2] The original Model 1 was produced until 1966; with subsequent design modifications to the external casing and a variety of subtle changes in colour finishes, the Hermes 3000 was manufactured into the 1980s.[5] Although it was a portable machine, the Hermes 3000 had a few deluxe features, such as a "beyond the margins" key, which could also be depressed to free any jammed keys and return them to their resting position.[6] The typewriters predominantly came in a light green (occasionally described as a mint[7] or "sea-foam green") colour.[8]

William Kotzwinkle's 1972 novel was named Hermes 3000 after the machine.[9] During his acceptance speech for "Best Screenplay (Brokeback Mountain)" at the 2006 Golden Globes, author Larry McMurtry specifically mentioned his Hermes 3000, stating: "Most heartfelt, I thank my typewriter. My typewriter is a Hermes 3000, surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius. It has kept me for thirty years out of the dry embrace of the computer".[10][11]

Other notable users of the machine are Sam Shepard, Eugène Ionesco and Stephen Fry.[2] Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote his final novel, Vanity of Duluoz,[12] on the Hermes 3000 in 1966. In a March 2018 auction at Bonhams in London, the Hermes 3000 on which Sylvia Plath had typed her only novel—The Bell Jar—in 1962 was sold for £26,000[13] ($46,071).[note 1] In 2013, in an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, actor Tom Hanks named the Hermes 3000 as the luxury item he would choose to take with him.[16][note 2]

Notes
  1. Described in The Financial Times as "a mint-green Hermes 3000 typewriter, lightly smudged, bought in Boston in 1959",[14] The Guardian later noted that the Bonhams' sale placed the value of Plath's Hermes "comfortably above Jack Kerouac’s, also a green Hermes, which pulled in $22,500 (£16,000), and John Updike’s $4,375 (£3,110)".[15]
  2. Hanks has been described as a "connoisseur" of typewriters, possessing 250 of the machines.[17] In a 2013 opinion piece for The New York Times, Hanks described the Hermes range as the "Cadillac of typewriters".[18]

References
  1. "Hermes". The Rotarian. July 1968. p. 15.
  2. Richard Polt (12 November 2015). The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century. Countryman Press. ISBN 978-1-58157-587-3.
  3. Polt, Richard (2015-11-12). The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century. The Countryman Press. ISBN 9781581575873.
  4. R. James Breiding (10 January 2013). Swiss Made: The Untold Story Behind Switzerland's Success. Profile Books. ISBN 978-1-84765-809-8.
  5. "Hermes 3000 typewriter". typewriters.ch.
  6. "How your Hermes 3000 Works" (PDF). Hermes. p. 7. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  7. "The Fine Books Blog: February 2018 Archives". www.finebooksmagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  8. Polt, Richard (2015-11-12). The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century. The Countryman Press. ISBN 9781581575873.
  9. Kotzwinkle, William (1972). Hermes 3000. Pantheon Books. ISBN 9780394476216. hermes 3000.
  10. Richard Polt (12 November 2015). The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century. Countryman Press. ISBN 978-1-58157-587-3.
  11. Keller, Julia; Elder, Robert K. (January 20, 2006). "What's so special about a Hermes 3000?". Chicago Tribune.
  12. Cockington, James (30 March 2011). "Staying true to type". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  13. Dugdale, John (2018-03-22). "Is Sylvia Plath's driver's license worth more than a letter from Dickens?". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  14. "Sylvia Plath: a life unabridged". Financial Times. 30 March 2018.
  15. Bolick, Kate (21 April 2018). "Who Bought Sylvia Plath's Stuff?". New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  16. Brown, Helen (2017-10-15). "Tom Hanks's typewriter stories reveal his inventive mind – Uncommon Type, review". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
  17. Brown, Helen (15 October 2017). "Tom Hanks's typewriter stories reveal his inventive mind – Uncommon Type, review". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  18. Hanks, Tom (August 3, 2013). "I Am Tom. I Like to Type. Hear That?". The New York Times.
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